Health Reform Hub Issues

Issues :: Innovation

CMS Bidding System Will Increase Medical Costs: A Cost/Benefit Analysis
Steve Pociask

American Consumer Institute, 05/04/11


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is implementing a bidding program that it hopes will lead to lower-priced devices and drive down Medicare costs for the homecare patients. However, auction bidding experts have overwhelmingly found that the current program will lead to below-cost pricing, which would adversely affect supply. The resulting decrease in the supply of medical devices for homecare patients, as this study shows, would create significant increases in other medical costs for some Americans. Read more...

Patient Safety and ‘Off-Label’ Drug Use
Merrill Matthews

Forbes: Right Directions, 4/20/11


Off-label drug use is facing some headwinds.  Case in point: two new reports looking at off-label use of the hemophilia drug NovoSeven and two soon-to-be-released studies comparing the off-label use of Avastin vs. Lucentis for macular degeneration. While doctors use most prescription drugs as directed and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they occasionally prescribe drugs to be used in ways not FDA approved, referred to as “off-label” use.  The FDA gives doctors that discretion as long as the off-label use seems reasonable. Read more...

State Health Care Flexibility: The Good, the Bad and the Broke
Merrill Matthews

Forbes: Right Directions, 4/6/11


Governors are demanding, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is promising, more state flexibility in implementing President Obama’s health care law. Real state flexibility could be a solution to many of our health care problems—at least for those who live in the right (i.e., red) states.  But the results would surely be a mixed bag: some good, some useless and some terrible. We would likely see the kind of red state-blue state segmentation in state health care reform that we currently see in taxes and regulations.  High tax and pro-regulation blue states seem to want even more government control over health care, including a single-payer health care system. Read more...

ObamaCare: Still a Clear and Present Danger
Grace-Marie Turner

Real Clear Markets, 4/4/11


If only it were actually were true! According to a recent the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, nearly half of Americans believe that ObamaCare either has been repealed or aren't sure. Just over half correctly understand that this government takeover of health care continues unabated. It's not surprising that people are confused. The House voted to repeal the law in January by a large margin, and headlines across the country read, "House votes to Repeal ObamaCare." People have read other headlines that say, "Court declares ObamaCare unconstitutional." And they have read news reports about numerous efforts in the House of Representatives to defund the law. Read more...

A Little Too Enterprising
Peter Pitts

Center for Medicine in the Public Interest: Drug Wonks, 3/30/11


According to a report in the Washington Post, “Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor, spent $329 million extra in 2009 purchasing 20 brand-name drugs instead of available generic copies, according to an American Enterprise Institute report.” The spending numbers are iffy. The word “extra” is wrong.  And words matter. A lot. The Post writes, “The study included contraceptives, respiratory medicines and antibiotics. Risperdal, New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson’s antipsychotic, prescribed in generic form exclusively would have saved $60 million in 2009, the report released Monday found.” It’s important to note (and is mentioned in the Post story) that Teva (the world’s largest generic drugs company) makes a generic version of the drug. Read more...

Wrong, Baby, Wrong
Kathryn Jean Lopez

National Review Online, 3/22/11


ObamaCare Is Wrong for America: That’s the title of a new book out today, from familiar National Review Online authors Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, James Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Tom Miller of the American Enterprise Institute, and Robert Moffit of the Heritage Foundation. Here they take questions about the book, the legislation, and the detrimental impact Obamacare will have on the economy, on our health sector, and on our freedom, from National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez. Read more...

Congress Should Lead the Global Fight Against Fake Drugs
Thomas T. Kubic

The Hill's Congress Blog, 3/21/11


 Every new medicine that appears on pharmacy shelves requires an investment of close to a billion dollars, at least half a decade of testing, and, rigorous oversight by Federal and state regulators. All this is worth it. Modern drugs can do virtually everything from regrowing hair to helping people with HIV/AIDS – a death sentence just 15 years ago – live full, normal lives. Given the near miraculous results they can deliver, making sure that drugs remain safe and effective is vital. With more and more media and political attention focused on deadly, counterfeit drugs, it’s time to reconsider how our country can protect its pharmaceutical supply. Read more...

Obama's Health Care Reform Is Unhealthy for Hospitals
John D. Hartigan

The Baltimore Sun, 3/19/11


Over the last few months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has exempted a long list of unions and employers from an Affordable Care Act provision that would have made it too costly for them to continue some of their health care insurance plans. But, in sharp contrast, HHS apparently doesn't intend to do anything at all about a new health reform mandate that could eventually force hundreds of badly needed U.S. hospitals to shut their doors. Read more...

Obama's Health Care Reform Is Unhealthy for Hospitals
John D. Hartigan

The Baltimore Sun, 3/19/11


Over the last few months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has exempted a long list of unions and employers from an Affordable Care Act provision that would have made it too costly for them to continue some of their health care insurance plans. But, in sharp contrast, HHS apparently doesn't intend to do anything at all about a new health reform mandate that could eventually force hundreds of badly needed U.S. hospitals to shut their doors. Read more...

Medical Innovation Demands Policy Support
John J. Castellani

The Hill's Congress Blog, 3/18/11


This week I had the honor of participating in a panel conversation, hosted by Research!America, that included the heads of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was an exciting opportunity to speak alongside representatives of the U.S. medical innovation infrastructure that helps shape medical research and the availability of novel advances, like innovative medicines, for American patients. In a time of fiscal re-growth and deficit reduction, this conversation was important and timely, focusing on the role that healthcare can play in America’s economy. Read more...